Programming Microsoft Dynamics® NAV 2013

Table of Contents

Programming Microsoft Dynamics® NAV 2013

Credits

Foreword

About the Authors

Acknowledgements

About the Reviewers

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Preface

A Business history timeline

The beginning

Single user PC Plus

Multiuser Navigator

Navision financials for Windows

Growth and mergers

Continuous enhancement

C/AL's roots

What you should know

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Downloading the example code

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. An Introduction to NAV 2013

NAV 2013 – an ERP system

Financial Management

Manufacturing

Supply Chain Management (SCM)

Business Intelligence and reporting (BI)

Relationship Management (RM)

Human Resource management (HR)

Project Management

Significant changes for NAV 2013

Application changes

Client enhancements

Development tools

Other areas

A developer's overview of NAV 2013

NAV object types

C/SIDE

Object Designer tool icons

C/AL programming language

NAV object and system elements

NAV functional terminology

User Interface

Developing in NAV 2013 – hands-on

Our scenario for development exercises

Getting started with the application design

Application tables

Designing a simple table

Creating a simple table

Pages

List pages

Card pages

Document pages

Journal/Worksheet pages

Standard elements of pages

Creating a List page

Creating a Card page

Creating some sample data

Creating a List Report

Much more to come

Other NAV object types

Codeunits

Queries

MenuSuites

XMLports

Backups and documentation

Summary

Review questions

2. Tables

An overview of tables

Components of a table

Naming a table

Table numbering

Table properties

Table triggers

Keys

SumIndexFields

Field Groups

Enhancing our sample application

Creating and modifying tables

Assigning a Table Relation property

Assigning an InitValue property

Adding a few activity-tracking tables

New tables for our WDTU project

New list pages for our WDTU project

Keys, SumIndexFields, and table relations in our examples

Secondary keys and SumIndexFields

Table relations

Modifying a standard table

Version list documentation

Types of tables

Fully Modifiable tables

Master

Journal

Template

Ledger

Reference tables

Register

Posted Document

Setup

Temporary

Content Modifiable tables

System

Read-only tables

Virtual

Summary

Review questions

3. Data Types and Fields

Basic definitions

Fields

Field properties

Field triggers

Data structure examples

Field numbering

Field and Variable naming

Data types

Fundamental data types

Numeric data

String data

Date/Time data

Complex data types

Data structure

Objects

Automation

Input/Output

DateFormula

References and other data types

Data type usage

FieldClass property options

FieldClass – Normal

FieldClass – FlowField

FieldClass – FlowFilter

FlowFields and a FlowFilter for our application

Filtering

Experimenting with filters

Accessing filter controls

Development Environment filter access

Role Tailored Client filter access

Summary

Review questions

4. Pages – the User's Interactive Interface

Page Design and Structure Overview

Page Design Guidelines

NAV 2013 Page structure

Types of pages

Role Center page

List page

Card page

Document page

FastTab

ListPlus page

Worksheet (Journal) page

ConfirmationDialog page

StandardDialog page

NavigatePage

Special pages

Request page

Departments page

Page parts

FactBox Area

CardParts and ListParts

Charts

Chart part

Chart Control Add-in

Page names

Page Designer

New Page Wizard

Page Components

Page Triggers

Page properties

Page Preview tool

Inheritance

WDTU Page Enhancement – part 1

Page Controls

Control Types

Container controls

Group controls

Field controls

Page Part controls

Page Control triggers

Bound and Unbound Pages

WDTU Page Enhancement – part 2

Page Actions

Page Action Types and Subtypes

Action Groups

Action Properties

Navigation Pane Button actions

Actions Summary

Learning more

UX (User Experience) Guidelines

Creative plagiarism

Experimenting on your own

Experimentation

Summary

Review questions

5. Queries and Reports

Queries

Building a simple Query

Query and Query component properties

Query properties

The DataItem properties

Column properties

Filter properties

Reports

What is a report?

Two NAV report designers

NAV report types

Report types summarized

Report naming

Report components – overview

Report structure

Report data overview

Report Layout overview

Report data flow

Report components – detail

C/SIDE Report properties

Visual Studio Report properties

Report triggers

Request Page properties

Request Page triggers

Data item properties

Data Item triggers

Creating a Report in NAV 2013

Learn by experimentation

Report building – phase 1

Report building – phase 2

Report building – phase 3

Modifying an existing report

Runtime rendering

Inheritance

Interactive report capabilities

Interactive sorting

Interactive visible/not visible

Request Page

Add a Request Page option

Processing-Only reports

Creative report plagiarism

Summary

Review questions

6. Introduction to C/SIDE and C/AL

Understanding C/SIDE

Object Designer

Starting a new object

Accessing the Table Designer

Accessing the Page Designer

Accessing the Report Dataset Designer

Accessing the Codeunit Designer

Query Designer

XMLport Designer

MenuSuite Designer

Object Designer navigation

Exporting objects

Importing objects

Text objects

Some useful practices

Changing data definitions

Saving and compiling

Some C/AL naming conventions

Variables

C/AL Globals

C/AL Locals

Function local identifiers

Other local identifiers

Special working storage variables

Temporary tables

Arrays

Initialization

System-defined variables

C/SIDE programming

Non-modifiable functions

Modifiable functions

Custom functions

Creating a function

C/AL syntax

Assignment and punctuation

Expressions

Operators

Arithmetic operators and functions

Boolean operators

Relational operators and functions

Precedence of operators

Frequently used C/AL functions

The MESSAGE function

The ERROR function

The CONFIRM function

The STRMENU function

Record functions

The SETCURRENTKEY function

The SETRANGE function

The SETFILTER function

The GET function

FIND functions

FIND ([Which]) options and the SQL Server alternates

Conditional statements

The BEGIN–END compound statement

The IF–THEN–ELSE statement

Indenting code

Some simple coding modifications

Adding field validation to a table

Adding code to a report

Layout the new report heading

Save and test

Lookup Related table data

Layout the new report body

Save and test

Handling user-entered selection criteria

Defining the Request Page

Finishing the processing code

Test the completed report

Output to Excel

Summary

Review questions

7. Intermediate C/AL

Some C/AL development tools

C/AL Symbol Menu

Internal documentation

Validation functions

TESTFIELD

FIELDERROR

INIT

VALIDATE

Date and Time functions

TODAY, TIME, and CURRENTDATETIME functions

WORKDATE function

DATE2DMY function

DATE2DWY function

DMY2DATE and DWY2DATE functions

CALCDATE function

Data conversion and formatting functions

ROUND

FORMAT function

EVALUATE function

FlowField SumIndexField functions

CALCFIELDS function

SETAUTOCALCFIELDS function

CALCSUMS function

CALCFIELDS and CALCSUMS comparison

Flow control

REPEAT-UNTIL

WHILE-DO

FOR-TO or FOR-DOWNTO

CASE-ELSE statement

WITH-DO statement

QUIT, BREAK, EXIT, and SKIP functions

QUIT function

BREAK function

EXIT function

SKIP function

Input and Output functions

NEXT function with FIND or FINDSET

INSERT function

MODIFY function

Rec and xRec

DELETE function

MODIFYALL function

DELETEALL function

Filtering

SETFILTER function

COPYFILTER and COPYFILTERS functions

GETFILTER and GETFILTERS functions

FILTERGROUP function

MARK function

CLEARMARKS function

MARKEDONLY function

RESET function

InterObject communication

Communication via data

Communication through function parameters

Communication via object calls

Enhancing the WDTU application

Modifying table fields

Adding validation logic

Playlist Header Validations

Creating the Playlist Subform page

Playlist Line validations

Creating a function

Creating a FactBox page

Summary

Review questions

8. Advanced NAV Development Tools

NAV process flow

Initial setup and data preparation

Transaction entry

Testing and posting the Journal Batch

Utilizing and maintaining the data

Data maintenance

Role Center pages

Role Center structure

Role Center activities page

Cue Groups and Cues

Cue source table

Cue Group Actions

System Part

Page Parts

Page Parts not visible

Page Part Charts

Page Parts for user data

Navigation Pane and Action Menus

Action Designer

Creating a WDTU Role Center Ribbon

Promoted Actions Categories

Action Groups

Configuration/Personalization

Navigation Pane

Navigation Home Button

Navigation Departments Button

Other Navigation Buttons

XMLports

XMLport components

XMLport properties

XMLport triggers

XMLport data lines

XMLport line properties

SourceType as Text

SourceType as Table

SourceType as Field

Element or Attribute

NodeType of Element

NodeType of Attribute

XMLport line triggers

DataType as Text

DataType as Table

DataType as Field

XMLport Request Page

Web services

Exposing a web service

Publishing a web service

Determining what was published

XMLport – web services integration example

Summary

Review questions

9. Develop, Debug, Deliver

Creating new C/AL routines

Callable functions

Codeunit 358 – Date Filter-Calc

Codeunit 359 – Period Form Management

Codeunit 365 – Format Address

Codeunit 396 – NoSeriesManagement

Function models to review and use

Management codeunits

Multi-language system

Multi-currency system

Navigate

Modifying for Navigate

Debugging in NAV 2013

Text Exports of Objects

Dialog function debugging techniques

Debugging with MESSAGE and CONFIRM

Debugging with DIALOG

Debugging with text output

Debugging with ERROR

The new NAV 2013 Debugger

Activating the Debugger

Attaching the Debugger to a Session

Creating break events

The Debugger window

Changing the code while debugging

C/SIDE Test-driven development

Other Interfaces

Automation Controller

Linked data sources

NAV Application Server (NAS)

Client Add-ins

Client Add-in construction

WDTU Client Add-in

Client Add-in comments

Customizing Help

NAV development projects – some general guidance

Knowledge is key

Data-focused design

Defining the needed data views

Designing the data tables

Designing the user data access interface

Designing the data validation

Data design review and revision

Designing the Posting processes

Designing the supporting processes

Double-check everything

Design for efficiency

Disk I/O

Locking

Updating and upgrading

Design for updating

Customization project recommendations

One change at a time

Testing

Database testing approaches

Testing in production

Using a testing database

Testing techniques

Deliverables

Finishing the project

Plan for upgrading

Benefits of upgrading

Coding considerations

Good documentation

Low-impact coding

Supporting material

Summary

Review questions

A. Answers to Review Questions

Chapter 1, An Introduction to NAV 2013

Chapter 2, Tables

Chapter 3, Data Types and Fields

Chapter 4, Pages – the User's Interactive Interface

Chapter 5, Queries and Reports

Chapter 6, Introduction to C/SIDE and C/AL

Chapter 7, Intermediate C/AL

Chapter 8, Advanced NAV Development Tools

Chapter 9, Develop, Debug, Deliver

Index

Programming Microsoft Dynamics® NAV 2013

Programming Microsoft Dynamics® NAV 2013

Copyright © 2013 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the authors, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

Microsoft, Microsoft Dynamics, and Dynamics NAV are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Programming Microsoft Dynamics® NAV 2013 is an independent publication and is not affiliated with, nor has it been authorized, sponsored or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation.

First published: February 2013

Production Reference: 1190213

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place

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Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-84968-648-8

www.packtpub.com

Cover Image by David Studebaker (<das189@tigereye.com>)

Credits

Authors

David A. Studebaker

Christopher D. Studebaker

Reviewers

Scott Barber

Daniel Rimmelzwaan

Kamil Sáček

Luc Van Dyck

Steven Renders

Acquisition Editor

Erol Staveley

Lead Technical Editor

Suchi Singhal

Technical Editors

Vrinda Amberkar

Nitee Shetty

Dominic Pereira

Project Coordinator

Joel Goveya

Proofreaders

Ting Baker

Joel T. Johnson

Mario Cecere

Indexers

Monica Ajmera Mehta

Tejal R. Soni

Rekha Nair

Graphics

Aditi Gajjar

Sheetal Aute

Production Coordinators

Aparna Bhagat

Nilesh R. Mohite

Pooja Chiplunkar

Cover Work

Nilesh R. Mohite

Foreword

Like many other enthusiasts in the NAV community, David runs a family business with his wife Karen. Their son Christopher got his start in NAV working in the family business. This is the kind of business which made NAV more successful than any other product in the ERP mid-market and we in the NAV R&D team can thank David, Karen and Christopher for their involvement in the product and the community which made NAV what it is today.

Like David I have had the pleasure of being part of the Dynamics NAV story for more than two decades—but on R&D team. Being a part of this for so long, I also have my favorite releases, each of which has meant something special to me:

Navigator 3.56: The Last DOS version. With a full IDE, the AL language, multiplatform support and a high performing database (does anybody remember SCO Unix) this concluded an era with an extremely high quality release, which is still used by many customers today.

Navision 2.60: The Windows release which matched 3.56 in terms of quality and in addition had COM support, new object oriented features in C/AL and a fantastic Windows UI. The beauty of simplicity.

Dynamics NAV 2013: The New NAV runtime release which introduces a completely new, highly scalable, managed runtime with deep integration into .NET, SQL, and Office. NAV 2013 also included an array of new client features using the same page definition, with more to come.

David has written fantastic books about previous versions of NAV – but reading David and Christopher's new book reveals to me that NAV 2013 is their favorite too!

Michael Nielsen

Director of Engineering

Dynamics NAV at Microsoft

About the Authors

David Studebaker is Chief Technical Officer and a founder of Liberty Grove Software with his partner Karen Studebaker. Liberty Grove Software, a Microsoft Partner, provides development, consulting, training, and upgrade services internationally for Microsoft Dynamics NAV resellers and end user customers.

David has been recognized by Microsoft as a Certified Professional for NAV in all three areas: Development, Applications, and Installation & Configuration. He has been honored by Microsoft as a Lead Certified Microsoft Trainer for NAV.

David just celebrated his first half century of programming, having started programming in 1962. He has been developing in C/AL since 1996. David has been an active participant in each step of computing technology from the first solid state mainframes to today's technology, from binary assembly language coding to today's C/AL and C#.

David's special achievements include his role as co-developer of the first production multi-programmed SPOOLing system in 1967. David has worked on a diverse set of software applications including manufacturing, distribution, retail, engineering, general accounting, association management, professional services billing, distribution/inventory management, freight carriage, data collection and production management, among others. Prior to co-authoring this book, David was the author of Programming Microsoft Dynamics NAV (for the Classic Client) and Programming Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 (for the Role Tailored Client).

David has had a wide range of development, consulting, sales and management roles throughout his career. He has been partner or owner and manager of several software development businesses, while always maintaining a hands-on role as a business applications developer.

David has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He has been writing for publication since he was an undergraduate. David has been a member of the Association for Computing Machinery since 1963 and was a founding officer of two local chapters of the ACM.

Christopher Studebaker, a NAV Developer/Implementer, has 12 years' experience designing, developing, implementing and selling the NAV and SQL Server environments. He has specialized in retail, manufacturing, job shop, and distribution implementations, most in high user-count, high data volume applications. Chris has worked on many NAV implementations with integrations to external databases and third party add-on products. Some special applications have included high volume order entry, pick-to-light systems, procurement analysis and Web frontends.

Chris acts in a consulting and training role for customers and for peer NAV professionals. He provides training both in informal and classroom situations, often developing custom course material to support courses tailored to specific student group needs. Courses have included various NAV functional and development areas.

Before becoming a certified NAV developer, Chris was a certified environmental consultant working with manufacturing facilities to meet national and state regulations. His duties included regulatory reporting, data analysis, project management and subcontractor oversight. Accomplishments included obtaining several safety certifications and managing projects for hazardous material management and abatement.

Chris is a Microsoft Certified IT Professional, SQL Database Developer, as well as a Microsoft Certified Business Solutions Professional in NAV Development and NAV Installation and Configuration. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from Northern Illinois University and has done graduate work at Denmark Technical University.

Acknowledgements

David's Personal Acknowledgements

The work on this book would not have been possible without my co-author (and son) Christopher Studebaker. Chris' broad experience with and in depth technical knowledge of NAV made it possible for us to deliver this book. I'm a very lucky father to get to work with such a smart, knowledgeable son.

I would like to especially thank my partner in life and work, Karen Studebaker, for her unflagging support, patience, love and encouragement in all ways. No one could have a more wonderful partner or spouse. The first 50 years have been great; I'm looking forward to the next 50.

I would like to acknowledge the guidance and love that I received from my parents. They always were able to see the good in people. They expected their children to do their best and helped us to do so. Foremost, they expected us to treat others well and they led by their examples.

One of my life's treasures is the enthusiastic support and love of my wonderful children, Christopher and Rebecca, of whom I am very proud. Both Becky and Chris are high achievement professionals and managers who are thoughtful and caring of others in all aspects of their lives. Most importantly, they place the highest value on their roles as parents and spouses.

Much of my knowledge about NAV was developed while working with a terrific team of associates at Studebaker Technology and later at Liberty Grove Software. For many years I have had the good fortune to work with intelligent, dedicated people who are also my friends.

Finally, though there are far too many additional individuals to list, whatever I have been able to accomplish would not have been possible without the help of many, many friends, mentors and associates along the way. Life would be very poor without all the kind and generous folks I have met.

May you enjoy using this book as even a fraction as much as I enjoyed working on it with Chris.

Christopher's Personal Acknowledgements

First and foremost I would like to thank my parents, David and Karen Studebaker, for giving me the opportunity in starting in the NAV world, and allowing me the room to grow on my own. Of course I could not have participated in this book if it weren't for my wife, Beth. Having worked within the NAV community for the past decade, I have worked with many wonderful people, most notably my parents (of course), Betty Cronin, Kathy Nohr, Tommy Madsen, Susanne Priess, David Podjasek, Diane Beck, Hasse Nielsen, Ahmed Amini, Chris Pashby, and Joy Bensur. Without them, I would not be the NAV professional I am today.

Authors' Joint Acknowledgements

We wish to express our deep appreciation to the Dynamics NAV experts, the technical reviewers for this book. Scott Barber, Steven Renders, Daniel Rimmelzwaan, Kamil Sacek and Luc Van Dyck all generously contributed their time and immeasurable amounts of their expertise to the task of reviewing our work. Their combined store of knowledge about Dynamics NAV is amazing. The good qualities in this book are due in no small part to the contributions of these individuals. We appreciate their hard work and wish to thank each of them very much.

We want to offer special thanks to Michael Nielsen of Microsoft for his wholehearted support of this and the previous Programming NAV books.

We wish to thank the great people at Microsoft and the crew of editors and other professionals at Packt Publishing who patiently assisted us with their contributions throughout the creation of this book.

About the Reviewers

Scott Barber, as a MS NAV Developer/Consultant for Tectura, is responsible for designing and the ERP systems to meet customer requirements. His responsibilities include system design and development, performing conversions, and supporting existing customers. Scott has been working with Navision since 1995 and has over 28 years of accounting software implementation experience.

Scott has worked with many of Tectura's customers in North America, as a result, he brings a depth of business knowledge to his development/consulting work. He is a skilled trainer and teaches courses in the classroom and on-site in all areas of Navision including the development environment.

Scott is currently implementing NAV in global environments in addition to working in the North American market.

Scott received his BS in Accounting at Utah State University.

Daniel Rimmelzwaan was born and raised in the Netherlands, and moved to the U.S. at the end of 1999 to be with his new American wife. In Holland he worked as a Microsoft Access and VBA developer. When looking for a job as a VB developer in the USA, he was introduced to Navision by a VB Recruiter, and was intrigued by the simplicity of its development tools. He decided to accept a job offer as a Navision Developer, with the firm intention to continue looking for a real developer job.

More than 13 years later, having been involved in all aspects of NAV implementations, Daniel is still working with NAV. He currently owns his own business (RIS Plus), doing Business Analysis and Solution Design. He is enjoying his career more than ever.

Ever since he started working with NAV, Daniel has been an active member of the online communities, such as mibuso.com and dynamicsuser.net, and the online forums managed by Microsoft. For his contributions to these communities, Daniel received his first of eight consecutive Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Awards in July 2005, which was just the second year that the award existed for NAV. Microsoft gives the MVP Award to independent members of technology communities around the world, and recognizes people that share their knowledge with other members of the community.

Daniel has also served as a reviewer for Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 Application Design by Mark Brummel, and Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 Professional Reporting by Steven Renders.